Sitting cross-legged, Bulat listened as his comrades explained everything he had missed since leaving Night Raid's base. Finally, scratching his chin, he managed to summarize everything he had just learned.

''So, since I left, Esdeath formed a new group called the Jaegers, one of whose members was none other than Wendy! On various occasions, you fought against them, while trying to kill Esdeath! Then, another group appeared, under the command of the Prime Minister's son: Wild Hunt! Since they spent their time killing people, the Jaegers fought them before allying with you! Then, you all fled together, faced with the arrival of Budo, before forming a single and unique group! Did I forget something?''

"That's a really short summary, but that's about it." Najenda agreed. "So far, we've managed to recover several teigus, but Esdeath seems really invincible."

"The empire hired a group of assassins to supposedly protect justice?" Ieyatsu wondered, unable to hide his disgust. "How is this possible? No matter his reasons, there is no way the prime minister would do something so horrible! I am truly disgusted by this politician's methods! I understand why you hate him so much."

"It doesn't take a genius to come up with dozens of reasons to hate him," Mine said.

Staring at the old Jaegers, Bulat dared to ask.

"I don't want to question the loyalty of these people I don't know, but... is allying with them really the best idea?"

"Do you doubt us?" Run asked, despite already knowing his answer.

"I personally understand your reasons for leaving the empire," Bulat assured them. "I myself followed the same path as you! However, the little I know about you is limited to, excluding Wendy, two of your members."

Turning to Kurome, he declared.

''Akame's sister! Even before she joined the Jaegers, I heard about her exploits regularly! She's a professional assassin capable of killing anyone in an instant! When the empire gave you an order, you always carried it out without hesitation.''

Then, his gaze turned to Seryu.

"And the girl responsible for Scheele's coma! And since our friend isn't here, I'm guessing she still hasn't regained consciousness."

"I… I'm sorry." Seryu mumbled, looking away from the man. "I only recently realized how much of a fault I was."

"But this is great news for us, isn't it?" Ieyatsu asked, grinning widely. "In total, the revolutionary army has about twenty teigus on our side! As such, we can now say that we have every chance of defeating Budo and Esdeath! The end of your fight is near."

"Tsss!" Chelsea growled, still maintaining a sullen pout. "Bakayaro!"

"Huh?" The boy wondered, surprised by her reaction.

"Esdeath is invincible!" Kurome declared. " We've had practice matches against her before! The Jaegers against Esdeath! And she always gave us a beating."

"Also, I always had the impression that she didn't give her all." Bols clarified. "It's true that the revolutionary army has become stronger and I understand that you might think so! But this woman has the gift of reducing the hope of any enemy to nothing, during a fight! Even we are not sure we know the limit of her power."

Hearing this, Natsu couldn't help but groan, realizing that the man was right. He himself was no longer so certain that Night Raid would win. He wasn't afraid to face Suyra or Budo, and even less so to finally meet the Prime Minister. However, just thinking back to his last fight against Esdeath was enough to make him hesitate. How could he surpass the general, when he had fought her with all his strength during their last encounter? She was even capable of stopping time.

Noticing that a heavy silence had settled within the camp, Gajeel ended up sitting cross-legged, before asking Bulat.

"Well, what about you? Since you left here, I doubt you've been doing anything but twiddling your thumbs! So, you can guess the question I want to ask you."

Instantly chuckling, Bulat affirmed.

"I really missed your blunt personality, Gajeel!"

Then, regaining a serious air, he declared.

"I found the man who brought you into this world."

Immediately, the mages practically leaned forward, eager to know what they had to say. The members of Night Raid were just as interested in the identity of this mysterious man, while the Jaegers displayed surprised faces upon hearing Bulat's statement.

"What does that mean?" Wave asked. "The man... who brought you to this world? Wait! You... You're not from this world? But that's impossible! Are you aliens?"

"That could explain a lot." Run stated, as he had often wondered about the trio's powers.

"They're mages, Wave." Bols retorted, who was the only one among them who knew the exact past of Natsu and the others. "They were teleported here by someone."

"Really?" Seryu wondered, looking at Wendy. "You never told me that! I always thought Fairy Tail was in an area outside of the capital."

"I was afraid you'd think I was lying to you." Wendy confessed. "As you know, we come from a mage guild: Fairy Tail! Except it's not located here, but in another world! During what was supposed to be a mission, someone sent us here."

"So?" Lily wanted to know. "Who is this man? What did he tell you? If you met him, why isn't he with you?"

"I'll tell you everything," Bulat said. "Here's the discussion we had!"

…

(Continuation of Bulat's discussion, in the abandoned bar (Chapter 33)

Pouring alcohol into a glass, Bulat then slid it to the man responsible for bringing the mages to this world.

'' Gift ! ''

Smiling simply, the bald man took the glass, before downing it in one go. Then, putting it down, he affirmed.

"There's no point in thinking about it! I won't follow you!"

" Hum?" He said bluntly.

"You came to ask me to go see the Fairy Tail mages in order to teleport them home, right? In that case, my answer is no!"

Smiling at him, Bulat declared.

"It would be a great help to me to tell me who you are! Even our fabulous information network has been unable to give me your identity."

Staring at him at first, the bald man then looked at his empty glass, before extending his arm towards Bulat. Hastening to fill it, the warrior then saw the other man stare at the alcohol in his glass, before affirming.

"My name is Rek!"

"That's a start," Bulat remarked, taking a drink of his own. "Now what I want to know is which side you belong to! Should I consider you an ally or an enemy?"

Gloussant, Rek replies.

"Seriously? I would never have brought these guys here if I supported the Empire! Unless I'm a really bad villain."

"In that case, why didn't you stay with them? Why didn't you use your powers to help Night Raid? Why are you preventing them from being able to return home?"

Taking another sip, Rek finally retorted.

''Saving your country... that's not my fight! And I think I've already done my part! Those Fairy Tail mages have more than enough skills to defeat Esdeath.''

"Why wouldn't it be your fight?" Bulat asked.

"That's easy to explain! Logically, I should have died a long time ago! In fact, despite the fact that I'm only seventy-two years old, I was born over 400 years ago."

"Excuse me?" Bulat asked, not understanding his words. "And who are you supposed to be? A god? An immortal?"

Smiling, faced with this question, Rek ended up lowering his glass, while affirming.

"I helped a god, in my life! And that's why I ended up here."

"I... I have trouble understanding!" Bulat admitted.

"I was there!" Rek said, seeming to think back to the past. "The day Zeref was cursed by Ankhseram! I was the one who taught him the knowledge needed to bring his little brother back to life! And he was struck by this curse, after carrying out our plan! That was 400 years ago."

"Zeref?" Bulat repeated, not understanding at all what he was talking about. "Who is Zeref?"

"I've told you enough." Rek retorted, finally creating a dimensional door in front of him. "Just tell those mages that if they want me to take them home, they should fulfill their mission as agreed! They must save this country before they think about leaving."

Those were his last words, before he jumped into his own attack and disappeared, along with it, before Bulat's eyes.

…

"That's all I know," Bulat confessed. "After that, I tried to find him, but to no avail! He became untraceable! So, unfortunately, I only know his name."

Yet, to his surprise, he noticed that the mages in front of him displayed wide-eyed stares.

'' Ze ... Zeref?'' Natsu was surprised.

"The guy from Tenro Island?" Happy wanted to know.

"Who is Zeref?" Tatsumi asked.

"A powerful ancient mage!" Gajeel told him. "A man capable of killing people, just with his presence."

Hearing this, Lubbock began to swallow, before affirming.

"But, that doesn't make any sense! A guy who lived 400 years ago can't be alive today! Besides, if he's from your world, how come he's here? Why is he interested in our world?"

"Do you really think we can answer your questions?" Lily asked.

"What is certain is that now that we know he worked with Zeref, his soul might be darker than we thought!" Wendy remarked. "Maybe he wants to give you a hand so that Esdeath is taken down and he can then take advantage of it to take control of the Empire."

Despite being a step behind, Run had eventually understood the situation enough to ask.

"This person you are talking about... is he still alive too?"

"Yeah! Zeref is known to be immortal." Gajeel stated. "According to historical rumors about him, he developed this power through an ancient forbidden spell! No one can kill him."

"So this is all nonsense." Run stated. "Why did Rek bring you here, instead of coming himself with Zeref? If he's that powerful, he might have had a better chance of defeating Esdeath."

"The question to ask is rather how this man ended up in our world, 400 years after all that." Najenda retorted.

"Tsss!" Natsu suddenly said, standing up. "Honestly, I don't care about that! He plans to see us again after we win? Fine! In that case, all we have to do is defeat Esdeath and wait for him to come to us! We'll have our answers right then! Hearing that, let's train and defeat Esdeath! Let's go!"

However, suddenly taking a step forward, he froze. Then, letting out a groan of pain, he placed his hand on the location of his heart, before starting to scream.

'' AHHHHH ! ''

"NATSU?" Happy said in fear, seeing him fall to his knees.

"What... What's happening to him?" Wendy wanted to know.

"The bit of sparkle in his heart," Leone understood. "He must have moved."

"The what?"

After laying Natsu down in a bed, several members of the group had gathered in another room.

"What?" Wendy panicked, putting her hand over her mouth. "Natsu's going to die in a few weeks?"

"Unfortunately, it's inevitable," Najenda told her. "The tip of Esdeath's sword that got stuck in his body is damaging his heart more and more, day by day." And his fight with Budo has accelerated things.

"What does 'accelerated' mean?" Tatsumi wanted to know. "According to the doctor, he has three weeks to live."

"Not anymore!" His boss retorted. "The doctors warned me that if Natsu started vomiting blood from his injury, then it meant his death was imminent."

Looking at her friends, she affirmed.

"Natsu only has three days left to live."

Hearing that made Wendy fall to her knees... Happy gave a blank stare, while his tail fell to the ground... and Gajeel began to growl

"That jerk... He must have overdone it."

"Wait, we have Wendy now." Leone remarked. "She can heal him with her powers."

"I… I can't." The child retorted, his gaze lowered. "I… I can ease his pain! But I couldn't heal his wound! At least, not while the shard remains in his body! Even if I heal him, the object will continue on its course and eventually kill him."

"There's no way to remove it without killing him," Akame retorted. "The only way to save him would be to remove the shard, seal his wound in less than half a second, and use Wendy's powers to do the rest! The problem is, despite being able to remove the shard from his heart and having Wendy with us, there's no one who could seal his wound before his heart stops beating."

"That's true, but we have to…" Tatsumi began.

"Dr. Stylish!" a voice suddenly cried.

Taking a step forward, Seryu finally manifested.

"The doctor could do it! He has already performed many operations of this kind and many have been successful."

"Are you an idiot or something?" Mine growled. "That bastard has been dead for a long time."

"But… you kept his teigu, didn't you? It's because of it that he could do that! A competent doctor who could wield that teigu could do the same."

Immediately, everyone understood what she was trying to say.

"Boss, who inherited this teigu?" Lubbock wanted to know.

"Nobody!" Najenda told him. "I've already thought of that solution! Unfortunately, dozens of people have tried, but no one has managed to control it."

"Damn it!" Tatsumi roared. "We have to find someone as soon as possible! Because if we don't, Natsu will die before he can see his friends again."